Finnish phone-maker could pursue makers of Google Android phones after victory in long-running legal battle The Finnish phone-maker Nokia could receive a one-off payment of more than €800m (£700m) from Apple and receive further royalties of €8 per iPhone sold in future, after winning a long-running patents case. The company subsequently hinted that it may pursue makers of smartphones using Google’s Android mobile operating system, of which 36m were sold in the first quarter of 2011. The settlement signed on Tuesday related to patents for mobile technology that helped Apple to revolutionise the phone industry in 2007 when it launched the first iPhone. Although terms of the settlement were not disclosed, previous patent licensing deals in the phone industry have been worth up to 5% of the price of the device involved. At €8, or $11.50 (£7), they would represent about 4.5% of the estimated average $264 cost price of an iPhone, which Apple sells to retailers and phone networks for an average of $660. Apple has sold 108m iPhones since their launch. Nokia’s shares rose by 3% as it said that the one-off payment, whose size was not revealed, will have “a positive financial impact” on its upcoming quarterly results. At the end of May it forecast that its mobile phone division, which for years has been the biggest in the world, would see reduced revenues and might not make a profit for the first time in a decade. The one-off payment should push it back to its usual quarterly profit levels. Ongoing royalties from Apple of about 1% of the average sale price of a handset would be worth about $430m to Nokia this year, analysts estimated. Nokia may now also choose to sue makers of handsets running Google’s free Android mobile operating system if it decides that they have also infringed its patents. Nokia’s chief executive, Stephen Elop, said : “This settlement … enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.” A spokesman for Apple said: “Apple and Nokia have agreed to drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a licence covering some of each other’s patents, but not the majority of the innovations that make the iPhone unique. We’re glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses.” Florian Mueller, an independent specialist and blogger on patent battles, said that “the deal structure – a one-time payment as well as running royalties – suggests a fairly good outcome for Nokia”. He added: “Maybe Nokia could have continued to play hardball and got an even better deal if it didn’t face the challenges it undoubtedly has. But this looks like a fairly important victory.” He suggested that Apple would benefit if Nokia pursues Android handset-makers, because they have smaller margins and would be less easily able to afford royalties. Android dominates the smartphone market with a 36% share, ahead of Nokia’s Symbian with 27% and Apple’s 17%, according to the research company Gartner . Financial analysts had mixed views on the outcome. Mikael Rautanen, at Inderes in Helsinki, said: “This is the first positive news from Nokia for a long time. They can both focus on their businesses now, and the dispute was settled to Nokia’s advantage.” But others remained bearish on the group’s longer-term prospects. “This [the Apple deal] could cause the stock to have a bit of a relief rally, but does very little to address the stark reality that the company is facing,” Richard Windsor, analyst at Nomura, said. On Monday, Nomura forecast that Nokia will be passed by both Samsung and Apple in the smartphone market worldwide over the next four months, and that its phone business will shrink by about 20% over the next two years as it tries to shift from Symbian to Microsoft’s Windows Phone on smartphones . “We see no reason to remain anything other than negative on the stock,” said Windsor. Nokia’s shares are still down about 25% since 30 May, representing a €5.5bn fall in market capitalisation for one of Europe’s biggest technology companies. The case settled on Tuesday was filed in 2009 by Nokia, which said it had filed a patent 10 years ago that covered the use of touchscreen technology in phones. Ironically, announcing the iPhone in 2007, Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said of the multi-touch screen interface: “Boy, have we patented it!”, in a warning to would-be rivals. Elop said: “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees. This settlement demonstrates Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market.” Nokia Apple Mobile phones Computing Telecoms Telecommunications industry Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Pioneering rocker Carl Gardner has died after more than a half-century of doo-wopping. Gardner, lead singer of the Coasters and the only surviving member from the group’s heyday, died in Florida after a long illness, reports the AP . He was 83. The Coasters shot to fame in the late ’50s…
Continue reading …A smouldering, call-of-the-Id shot of a barefoot, wild-haired Angelina Jolie in a wooden boat in Cambodia is the latest come-hither ad for Louis Vuitton. “People are not used to seeing Angelina in this situation,” far from the red carpet, a Vuitton spokeswoman tells Women’s Wear Daily . Jolie wears a Louis…
Continue reading …Journalists plowing through the 24,000 pages of emails from Sarah Palin’s governorship released last week have found them rather underwhelming, but one eye-catcher invites her to a 2008 party at a record exec’s house and asks her to “bring beef, tequila, and condoms.” Echo Park Records chief Alexis Rivera…
Continue reading …
After keen debate at the Guardian’s books desk, this is our list of the very best factual writing, organised by category, and then by date. See how closely it matches yours and tell us what we’ve missed Art The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes (1980) Hughes charts the story of modern art, from cubism to the avant garde The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich (1950) The most popular art book in history. Gombrich examines the technical and aesthetic problems confronted by artists since the dawn of time Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972) A study of the ways in which we look at art, which changed the terms of a generation’s engagement with visual culture Biography Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1550) Biography mixes with anecdote in this Florentine-inflected portrait of the painters and sculptors who shaped the Renaissance The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791) Boswell draws on his journals to create an affectionate portrait of the great lexicographer The Diaries of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys (1825) “Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health,” begins this extraordinarily vivid diary of the Restoration period Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey (1918) Strachey set the template for modern biography, with this witty and irreverent account of four Victorian heroes Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves (1929) Graves’ autobiography tells the story of his childhood and the early years of his marriage, but the core of the book is his account of the brutalities and banalities of the first world war The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein (1933) Stein’s groundbreaking biography, written in the guise of an autobiography, of her lover Culture Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag (1964) Sontag’s proposition that the modern sensibility has been shaped by Jewish ethics and homosexual aesthetics Mythologies by Roland Barthes (1972) Barthes gets under the surface of the meanings of the things which surround us in these witty studies of contemporary myth-making Orientalism by Edward Said (1978) Said argues that romanticised western representations of Arab culture are political and condescending Environment Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) This account of the effects of pesticides on the environment launched the environmental movement in the US The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock (1979) Lovelock’s argument that once life is established on a planet, it engineers conditions for its continued survival, revolutionised our perception of our place in the scheme of things History The Histories by Herodotus (c400 BC) History begins with Herodotus’s account of the Greco-Persian war The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1776) The first modern historian of the Roman Empire went back to ancient sources to argue that moral decay made downfall inevitable The History of England by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1848) A landmark study from the pre-eminent Whig historian Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt (1963) Arendt’s reports on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and explores the psychological and sociological mechanisms of the Holocaust The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson (1963) Thompson turned history on its head by focusing on the political agency of the people, whom most historians had treated as anonymous masses Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (1970) A moving account of the treatment of Native Americans by the US government Hard Times: an Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel (1970) Terkel weaves oral accounts of the Great Depression into a powerful tapestry Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński (1982) The great Polish reporter tells the story of the last Shah of Iran The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm (1994) Hobsbawm charts the failure of capitalists and communists alike in this account of the 20th century We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Familes by Philip Gourevitch (1999) Gourevitch captures the terror of the Rwandan massacre, and the failures of the international community Postwar by Tony Judt (2005) A magisterial account of the grand sweep of European history since 1945 Journalism The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm (1990) An examination of the moral dilemmas at the heart of the journalist’s trade The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968) The man in the white suit follows Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters as they drive across the US in a haze of LSD Dispatches by Michael Herr (1977) A vivid account of Herr’s experiences of the Vietnam war Literature The Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson (1781) Biographical and critical studies of 18th-century poets, which cast a sceptical eye on their lives and works An Image of Africa by Chinua Achebe (1975) Achebe challenges western cultural imperialism in his argument that Heart of Darkness is a racist novel, which deprives its African characters of humanity The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim (1976) Bettelheim argues that the darkness of fairy tales offers a means for children to grapple with their fears Mathematics Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter (1979) A whimsical meditation on music, mind and mathematics that explores formal complexity and self-reference Memoir Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1782) Rousseau establishes the template for modern autobiography with this intimate account of his own life Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (1845) This vivid first person account was one of the first times the voice of the slave was heard in mainstream society De Profundis by Oscar Wilde (1905) Imprisoned in Reading Gaol, Wilde tells the story of his affair with Alfred Douglas and his spiritual development The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence (1922) A dashing account of Lawrence’s exploits during the revolt against the Ottoman empire The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi (1927) A classic of the confessional genre, Gandhi recounts early struggles and his passionate quest for self-knowledge Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (1938) Orwell’s clear-eyed account of his experiences in Spain offers a portrait of confusion and betrayal during the civil war The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947) Published by her father after the war, this account of the family’s hidden life helped to shape the post-war narrative of the Holocaust Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov (1951) Nabokov reflects on his life before moving to the US in 1940 The Man Died by Wole Soyinka (1971) A powerful autobiographical account of Soyinka’s experiences in prison during the Nigerian civil war The Periodic Table by Primo Levi (1975) A vision of the author’s life, including his life in the concentration camps, as seen through the kaleidoscope of chemistry Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (2000) Sage demolishes the fantasy of family as she tells how her relatives passed rage, grief and frustrated desire down the generations Mind The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud (1899) Freud’s argument that our experiences while dreaming hold the key to our psychological lives launched the discipline of psychoanalysis and transformed western culture Music The Romantic Generation by Charles Rosen (1998) Rosen examines how 19th-century composers extended the boundaries of music, and their engagement with literature, landscape and the divine Philosophy The Symposium by Plato (c380 BC) A lively dinner-party debate on the nature of love Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (c180) A series of personal reflections, advocating the preservation of calm in the face of conflict, and the cultivation of a cosmic perspective Essays by Michel de Montaigne (1580) Montaigne’s wise, amusing examination of himself, and of human nature, launched the essay as a literary form The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1621) Burton examines all human culture through the lens of melancholy Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes (1641) Doubting everything but his own existence, Descartes tries to construct God and the universe Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume (1779) Hume puts his faith to the test with a conversation examining arguments for the existence of God Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (1781) If western philosophy is merely a footnote to Plato, then Kant’s attempt to unite reason with experience provides many of the subject headings Phenomenology of Mind by GWF Hegel (1807) Hegel takes the reader through the evolution of consciousness Walden by HD Thoreau (1854) An account of two years spent living in a log cabin, which examines ideas of independence and society On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (1859) Mill argues that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others” Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (1883) The invalid Nietzsche proclaims the death of God and the triumph of the Ubermensch The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn (1962) A revolutionary theory about the nature of scientific progress Politics The Art of War by Sun Tzu (c500 BC) A study of warfare that stresses the importance of positioning and the ability to react to changing circumstances The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1532) Machiavelli injects realism into the study of power, arguing that rulers should be prepared to abandon virtue to defend stability Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651) Hobbes makes the case for absolute power, to prevent life from being “nasty, brutish and short” The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1791) A hugely influential defence of the French revolution, which points out the illegitimacy of governments that do not defend the rights of citizens A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) Wollstonecraft argues that women should be afforded an education in order that they might contribute to society The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) An analysis of society and politics in terms of class struggle, which launched a movement with the ringing declaration that “proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains” The Souls of Black Folk by WEB DuBois (1903) A series of essays makes the case for equality in the American south The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (1949) De Beauvoir examines what it means to be a woman, and how female identity has been defined with reference to men throughout history The Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon (1961) An exploration of the psychological impact of colonialisation The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan (1967) This bestselling graphic popularisation of McLuhan’s ideas about technology and culture was cocreated with Quentin Fiore The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer (1970) Greer argues that male society represses the sexuality of women Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (1988) Chomsky argues that corporate media present a distorted picture of the world, so as to maximise their profits Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky (2008) A vibrant first history of the ongoing social media revolution Religion The Golden Bough by James George Frazer (1890) An attempt to identify the shared elements of the world’s religions, which suggests that they originate from fertility cults The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (1902) James argues that the value of religions should not be measured in terms of their origin or empirical accuracy Science On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859) Darwin’s account of the evolution of species by natural selection transformed biology and our place in the universe The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynmann (1965) An elegant exploration of physical theories from one of the 20th century’s greatest theoreticians The Double Helix by James Watson (1968) James Watson’s personal account of how he and Francis Crick cracked the structure of DNA The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976) Dawkins launches a revolution in biology with the suggestion that evolution is best seen from the perspective of the gene, rather than the organism A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988) A book owned by 10 million people, if understood by fewer, Hawking’s account of the origins of the universe became a publishing sensation Society The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan (1405) A defence of womankind in the form of an ideal city, populated by famous women from throughout history Praise of Folly by Erasmus (1511) This satirical encomium to the foolishness of man helped spark the Reformation with its skewering of abuses and corruption in the Catholic church Letters Concerning the English Nation by Voltaire (1734) Voltaire turns his keen eye on English society, comparing it affectionately with life on the other side of the English channel Suicide by Émile Durkheim (1897) An investigation into protestant and catholic culture, which argues that the less vigilant social control within catholic societies lowers the rate of suicide Economy and Society by Max Weber (1922) A thorough analysis of political, economic and religious mechanisms in modern society, which established the template for modern sociology A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) Woolf’s extended essay argues for both a literal and metaphorical space for women writers within a male-dominated literary tradition Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans (1941) Evans’s images and Agee’s words paint a stark picture of life among sharecroppers in the US South The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963) An exploration of the unhappiness felt by many housewives in the 1950s and 1960s, despite material comfort and stable family lives In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966) A novelistic account of a brutal murder in Kansas city, which propelled Capote to fame and fortune Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (1968) Didion evokes life in 1960s California in a series of sparkling essays The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973) This analysis of incarceration in the Soviet Union, including the author’s own experiences as a zek, called into question the moral foundations of the USSR Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault (1975) Foucault examines the development of modern society’s systems of incarceration News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez (1996) Colombia’s greatest 20th-century writer tells the story of kidnappings carried out by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel Travel The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta (1355) The Arab world’s greatest medieval traveller sets down his memories of journeys throughout the known world and beyond Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (1869) Twain’s tongue-in-cheek account of his European adventures was an immediate bestseller Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West (1941) A six-week trip to Yugoslavia provides the backbone for this monumental study of Balkan history Venice by Jan Morris (1960) An eccentric but learned guide to the great city’s art, history, culture and people A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (1977) The first volume of Leigh Fermor’s journey on foot through Europe – a glowing evocation of youth, memory and history Danube by Claudio Magris (1986) Magris mixes travel, history, anecdote and literature as he tracks the Danube from its source to the sea China Along the Yellow River by Cao Jinqing (1995) A pioneering work of Chinese sociology, exploring modern China with a modern face The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald (1995) A walking tour in East Anglia becomes a melancholy meditation on transience and decay Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban (2000) Raban sets off in a 35ft ketch on a voyage from Seattle to Alaska, exploring Native American art, the Romantic imagination and his own disintegrating relationship along the way Letters to a Young Novelist by Mario Vargas Llosa (2002) Vargas Llosa distils a lifetime of reading and writing into a manual of the writer’s craft What have we missed? Help fill in the gaps and join the debate on the blog Best books History Philosophy Biography Science and nature guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …After keen debate at the Guardian’s books desk, this is our list of the very best factual writing, organised by category, and then by date. See how closely it matches yours and tell us what we’ve missed Art The Shock of the New by Robert Hughes (1980) Hughes charts the story of modern art, from cubism to the avant garde The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich (1950) The most popular art book in history. Gombrich examines the technical and aesthetic problems confronted by artists since the dawn of time Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972) A study of the ways in which we look at art, which changed the terms of a generation’s engagement with visual culture Biography Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1550) Biography mixes with anecdote in this Florentine-inflected portrait of the painters and sculptors who shaped the Renaissance The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791) Boswell draws on his journals to create an affectionate portrait of the great lexicographer The Diaries of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys (1825) “Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health,” begins this extraordinarily vivid diary of the Restoration period Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey (1918) Strachey set the template for modern biography, with this witty and irreverent account of four Victorian heroes Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves (1929) Graves’ autobiography tells the story of his childhood and the early years of his marriage, but the core of the book is his account of the brutalities and banalities of the first world war The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein (1933) Stein’s groundbreaking biography, written in the guise of an autobiography, of her lover Culture Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag (1964) Sontag’s proposition that the modern sensibility has been shaped by Jewish ethics and homosexual aesthetics Mythologies by Roland Barthes (1972) Barthes gets under the surface of the meanings of the things which surround us in these witty studies of contemporary myth-making Orientalism by Edward Said (1978) Said argues that romanticised western representations of Arab culture are political and condescending Environment Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) This account of the effects of pesticides on the environment launched the environmental movement in the US The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock (1979) Lovelock’s argument that once life is established on a planet, it engineers conditions for its continued survival, revolutionised our perception of our place in the scheme of things History The Histories by Herodotus (c400 BC) History begins with Herodotus’s account of the Greco-Persian war The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1776) The first modern historian of the Roman Empire went back to ancient sources to argue that moral decay made downfall inevitable The History of England by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1848) A landmark study from the pre-eminent Whig historian Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt (1963) Arendt’s reports on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and explores the psychological and sociological mechanisms of the Holocaust The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson (1963) Thompson turned history on its head by focusing on the political agency of the people, whom most historians had treated as anonymous masses Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (1970) A moving account of the treatment of Native Americans by the US government Hard Times: an Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel (1970) Terkel weaves oral accounts of the Great Depression into a powerful tapestry Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński (1982) The great Polish reporter tells the story of the last Shah of Iran The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm (1994) Hobsbawm charts the failure of capitalists and communists alike in this account of the 20th century We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Familes by Philip Gourevitch (1999) Gourevitch captures the terror of the Rwandan massacre, and the failures of the international community Postwar by Tony Judt (2005) A magisterial account of the grand sweep of European history since 1945 Journalism The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm (1990) An examination of the moral dilemmas at the heart of the journalist’s trade The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968) The man in the white suit follows Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters as they drive across the US in a haze of LSD Dispatches by Michael Herr (1977) A vivid account of Herr’s experiences of the Vietnam war Literature The Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson (1781) Biographical and critical studies of 18th-century poets, which cast a sceptical eye on their lives and works An Image of Africa by Chinua Achebe (1975) Achebe challenges western cultural imperialism in his argument that Heart of Darkness is a racist novel, which deprives its African characters of humanity The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim (1976) Bettelheim argues that the darkness of fairy tales offers a means for children to grapple with their fears Mathematics Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter (1979) A whimsical meditation on music, mind and mathematics that explores formal complexity and self-reference Memoir Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1782) Rousseau establishes the template for modern autobiography with this intimate account of his own life Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (1845) This vivid first person account was one of the first times the voice of the slave was heard in mainstream society De Profundis by Oscar Wilde (1905) Imprisoned in Reading Gaol, Wilde tells the story of his affair with Alfred Douglas and his spiritual development The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence (1922) A dashing account of Lawrence’s exploits during the revolt against the Ottoman empire The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi (1927) A classic of the confessional genre, Gandhi recounts early struggles and his passionate quest for self-knowledge Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (1938) Orwell’s clear-eyed account of his experiences in Spain offers a portrait of confusion and betrayal during the civil war The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947) Published by her father after the war, this account of the family’s hidden life helped to shape the post-war narrative of the Holocaust Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov (1951) Nabokov reflects on his life before moving to the US in 1940 The Man Died by Wole Soyinka (1971) A powerful autobiographical account of Soyinka’s experiences in prison during the Nigerian civil war The Periodic Table by Primo Levi (1975) A vision of the author’s life, including his life in the concentration camps, as seen through the kaleidoscope of chemistry Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (2000) Sage demolishes the fantasy of family as she tells how her relatives passed rage, grief and frustrated desire down the generations Mind The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud (1899) Freud’s argument that our experiences while dreaming hold the key to our psychological lives launched the discipline of psychoanalysis and transformed western culture Music The Romantic Generation by Charles Rosen (1998) Rosen examines how 19th-century composers extended the boundaries of music, and their engagement with literature, landscape and the divine Philosophy The Symposium by Plato (c380 BC) A lively dinner-party debate on the nature of love Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (c180) A series of personal reflections, advocating the preservation of calm in the face of conflict, and the cultivation of a cosmic perspective Essays by Michel de Montaigne (1580) Montaigne’s wise, amusing examination of himself, and of human nature, launched the essay as a literary form The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton (1621) Burton examines all human culture through the lens of melancholy Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes (1641) Doubting everything but his own existence, Descartes tries to construct God and the universe Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume (1779) Hume puts his faith to the test with a conversation examining arguments for the existence of God Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (1781) If western philosophy is merely a footnote to Plato, then Kant’s attempt to unite reason with experience provides many of the subject headings Phenomenology of Mind by GWF Hegel (1807) Hegel takes the reader through the evolution of consciousness Walden by HD Thoreau (1854) An account of two years spent living in a log cabin, which examines ideas of independence and society On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (1859) Mill argues that “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others” Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (1883) The invalid Nietzsche proclaims the death of God and the triumph of the Ubermensch The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn (1962) A revolutionary theory about the nature of scientific progress Politics The Art of War by Sun Tzu (c500 BC) A study of warfare that stresses the importance of positioning and the ability to react to changing circumstances The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1532) Machiavelli injects realism into the study of power, arguing that rulers should be prepared to abandon virtue to defend stability Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651) Hobbes makes the case for absolute power, to prevent life from being “nasty, brutish and short” The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1791) A hugely influential defence of the French revolution, which points out the illegitimacy of governments that do not defend the rights of citizens A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) Wollstonecraft argues that women should be afforded an education in order that they might contribute to society The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) An analysis of society and politics in terms of class struggle, which launched a movement with the ringing declaration that “proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains” The Souls of Black Folk by WEB DuBois (1903) A series of essays makes the case for equality in the American south The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (1949) De Beauvoir examines what it means to be a woman, and how female identity has been defined with reference to men throughout history The Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon (1961) An exploration of the psychological impact of colonialisation The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan (1967) This bestselling graphic popularisation of McLuhan’s ideas about technology and culture was cocreated with Quentin Fiore The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer (1970) Greer argues that male society represses the sexuality of women Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (1988) Chomsky argues that corporate media present a distorted picture of the world, so as to maximise their profits Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky (2008) A vibrant first history of the ongoing social media revolution Religion The Golden Bough by James George Frazer (1890) An attempt to identify the shared elements of the world’s religions, which suggests that they originate from fertility cults The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (1902) James argues that the value of religions should not be measured in terms of their origin or empirical accuracy Science On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859) Darwin’s account of the evolution of species by natural selection transformed biology and our place in the universe The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynmann (1965) An elegant exploration of physical theories from one of the 20th century’s greatest theoreticians The Double Helix by James Watson (1968) James Watson’s personal account of how he and Francis Crick cracked the structure of DNA The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976) Dawkins launches a revolution in biology with the suggestion that evolution is best seen from the perspective of the gene, rather than the organism A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988) A book owned by 10 million people, if understood by fewer, Hawking’s account of the origins of the universe became a publishing sensation Society The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan (1405) A defence of womankind in the form of an ideal city, populated by famous women from throughout history Praise of Folly by Erasmus (1511) This satirical encomium to the foolishness of man helped spark the Reformation with its skewering of abuses and corruption in the Catholic church Letters Concerning the English Nation by Voltaire (1734) Voltaire turns his keen eye on English society, comparing it affectionately with life on the other side of the English channel Suicide by Émile Durkheim (1897) An investigation into protestant and catholic culture, which argues that the less vigilant social control within catholic societies lowers the rate of suicide Economy and Society by Max Weber (1922) A thorough analysis of political, economic and religious mechanisms in modern society, which established the template for modern sociology A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929) Woolf’s extended essay argues for both a literal and metaphorical space for women writers within a male-dominated literary tradition Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans (1941) Evans’s images and Agee’s words paint a stark picture of life among sharecroppers in the US South The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963) An exploration of the unhappiness felt by many housewives in the 1950s and 1960s, despite material comfort and stable family lives In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1966) A novelistic account of a brutal murder in Kansas city, which propelled Capote to fame and fortune Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (1968) Didion evokes life in 1960s California in a series of sparkling essays The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973) This analysis of incarceration in the Soviet Union, including the author’s own experiences as a zek, called into question the moral foundations of the USSR Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault (1975) Foucault examines the development of modern society’s systems of incarceration News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García Márquez (1996) Colombia’s greatest 20th-century writer tells the story of kidnappings carried out by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel Travel The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta (1355) The Arab world’s greatest medieval traveller sets down his memories of journeys throughout the known world and beyond Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (1869) Twain’s tongue-in-cheek account of his European adventures was an immediate bestseller Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West (1941) A six-week trip to Yugoslavia provides the backbone for this monumental study of Balkan history Venice by Jan Morris (1960) An eccentric but learned guide to the great city’s art, history, culture and people A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (1977) The first volume of Leigh Fermor’s journey on foot through Europe – a glowing evocation of youth, memory and history Danube by Claudio Magris (1986) Magris mixes travel, history, anecdote and literature as he tracks the Danube from its source to the sea China Along the Yellow River by Cao Jinqing (1995) A pioneering work of Chinese sociology, exploring modern China with a modern face The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald (1995) A walking tour in East Anglia becomes a melancholy meditation on transience and decay Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban (2000) Raban sets off in a 35ft ketch on a voyage from Seattle to Alaska, exploring Native American art, the Romantic imagination and his own disintegrating relationship along the way Letters to a Young Novelist by Mario Vargas Llosa (2002) Vargas Llosa distils a lifetime of reading and writing into a manual of the writer’s craft What have we missed? Help fill in the gaps and join the debate on the blog Best books History Philosophy Biography Science and nature guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chief US District Judge James Ware will rule today on whether his predecessor’s decision to strike down the state’s gay marriage ban should be invalidated because the judge is gay and in a long-term relationship. Judge Vaughn R. Walker “occupied precisely those same shoes as the plaintiffs” when he decided…
Continue reading …Calling Saint Anthony of Padua: A relic of the patron saint of missing objects and lost causes has gone missing from a Catholic church in California. The relic was stolen from a cabinet in the church in Long Beach, where it had been on display to mark the 780th anniversary…
Continue reading …Vietnam holds live-fire exercises as territorial dispute with China escalates
June 14, 2011 No Comment
Beijing warns other regional powers not to become involved in row over South China Sea islands and surrounding waters China has warned other countries not to become involved in an escalating sea border dispute with Vietnam that reflects concern over Beijing’s increasing international power and confidence. Experts say the stand-off between China and Vietnam – two of the six powers laying claim to a number of islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea – is the worst for more than two decades. Vietnam held live-fire exercises off its coast on Monday, in what analysts said was a response without precedent. The complex dispute over sovereignty in the 1.2m square miles of sea has been simmering for decades, but has grown increasingly fractious in the past few years. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea. As much as a third of the world’s trade passes through the Malacca Strait. Countries are also competing to tap the sea’s energy resources and exploit its fish stocks. Last year, foreign ministers lined up to attack China’s stance at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional forum, in what the Chinese regarded as a Washington-led ambush. The US said it had a national security interest in a peaceful resolution and that it supported a collective solution. Beijing insists the issue should be handled through bilateral deals. “In a sense [the dispute] has become more complicated because it has become conflated with Sino-US competition in south-east Asia,” said Dr Ian Storey, of the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore. Benigno Aquino, president of the Philippines – which has also accused China of intruding into its waters – told a press conference on Tuesday: “Perhaps the presence of our treaty partner, which is the United States of America, ensures that all of us will have freedom of navigation, will conform to international law.” Washington has played down the issue this year, with both sides seeking to improve relations after 2010′s bilateral tensions. China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told a news conference: “We hope countries not related to the disputes over the South China Sea will respect the efforts of directly related countries to resolve the issue through direct negotiations.” In an apparent reference to Vietnam, he added: “Some country took unilateral actions to impair China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests [and] released groundless and irresponsible remarks with the attempt to expand and complicate the dispute over the South China Sea.” Hong added that China would not use force to resolve disputes. Vietnam alleges that Chinese boats cut a cable from a seismic survey boat off its coast in late May and impeded another last week, while China accuses Vietnam of illegally entering its waters. Storey warned in a paper two years ago that rivalries were escalating again after easing in the first half of the last decade . “Failure to address rising tensions could lead to greater regional instability, disruptions to global trade and economic development, environmental degradation and, worst-case scenario, military confrontation,” he and his co-author concluded. Storey said that China saw itself as the aggrieved party, but added: “Despite the rhetoric about its peaceful rise and not seeking hegemony, it is seen that China is becoming more assertive and, in the last few months, aggressive.” Vietnam had reacted with unprecedented stridency by holding the live-fire drill and issuing a decree on the terms of military service, he added. “The increasing frequency of incidents at sea raises the risk of an armed confrontation,” said Storey, adding that tensions were at their highest point since a clash in 1988 in which around 70 Vietnamese personnel were killed. The growing strength of China’s navy has also contributed to the concerns of regional powers. It is due to hold naval drills in the western Pacific and official media outlets have suggested it may launch its first aircraft carrier within months , a year earlier than expected. The renewed tensions come after a Chinese diplomatic charm offensive apparently aimed at undoing the damage from last year’s row. Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt of the International Crisis Group said: “[China has] seven central government agencies, the People’s Liberation Army Navy, provincial governments and state-owned enterprises who all have their own interests and claims in the disputed waters. Without very solid inter-agency co-ordination, the multitude of players often make case-by-case policy decisions on the ground in accordance with their individual priorities. “Some of the harder-line actors can justify their actions with the voices of strident nationalism, contributing to a heated domestic environment and marginalising more moderate voices.” China Vietnam Malaysia Philippines Taiwan Brunei Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Libya’s intransigent leader appears increasingly isolated as capital’s wary residents wait for rebellion to break through In the late afternoon the cafe was full of men smoking and drinking coffee, mint tea or strawberry juice. It was a very public setting, but the businessman judged that he was in like-minded company and so did not bother to lower his voice. “Gaddafi is losing support every day,” he said, placing another small coal on top of his shisha pipe. “If he wanted peace he would have quit.” These days of bombs and bluster and seemingly endless queues for fuel in Tripoli are the “glorious hours” of the Libyan people, according to their leader, Muammar Gaddafi, whose stern image gazes down from billboards across the capital. For nearly 42 years it has been only the exceedingly brave, or the foolish, who dared to dispute what he said. Or to talk openly about life without the “Brother Leader” in charge. But now, nearly four months into a conflict that has torn the country apart, people in Tripoli appear to be slowly losing their fear of speaking out. “Ninety-five per cent of people want him to leave, not just because of politics, but because of our desire for a return to normal life,” the businessman said. Foreign reporters are not permitted to work freely in Tripoli, so obtaining a genuine sense of people’s feelings here is difficult. But on several furtive trips around the city without government minders, it was possible to talk to a range of residents on the streets. The picture that emerged was of a people weary of the inconveniences of war, and weary of being held hostage to the whims of one man – a people now just waiting for the end. “He [Gaddafi] is finished, we know it,” said a shop owner in his 50s, as he sat behind his cash register. Like all the people critical of the regime, he requested anonymity, for the regime still has plenty of ears and eyes on the street. In the backroom of another store, a small, friendly man old enough to remember the days before Gaddafi, confirmed this. “Most people want him out and more people can talk about this now than before because he is under pressure. But you still have to be careful. If you are caught, God knows what will happen to you.” The image of a leader increasingly on his own is reinforced by the size of the public shows of support for the regime. As Nato’s bombing campaign has intensified, forcing Gaddafi and his family into hiding, he has called on Libyans to stand with him. But the nightly gatherings outside his Bab al-Aziziya compound now attract just a few hundred people, judging by the live broadcasts on state television. After a heavy day of bombing last week, a demonstration called to protest against Nato’s campaign attracted 300 people at most. This in a city with a population of more than 1 million. The accuracy of the air strikes, which appear to have caused few civilian casualties, mean that Gaddafi has been unable to convince people that this is “crusader aggression” against all Libyans, even if many agree that the bombing raids are no longer just about protecting ordinary people. “Nato good, good,” is a common refrain from people talking to foreign reporters. Indeed, it is Gaddafi’s intransigence that many here blame for the continuing conflict and increasing inconveniences in the city. Despite government assertions that he is ready to talk peace, Gaddafi called the rebels “traitors” in a fiery speech last week, and promised to “bust the armed gangs with steadfastness and courage”. With few ships docking at Tripoli’s port due to a partial embargo by Nato, most goods must be sent by road from Tunisia. Predicted shortages of food, especially essential items, have yet to occur. Fruit and vegetables are being harvested on local farms, and wheat, flour and cooking oil remain in good supply, according to the businessman in the cafe. Fuel is a different matter. Petrol in Libya is among the world’s cheapest, and filling up a saloon car can cost as little as £3 or £4. But despite its vast oil production, Libya only refines a quarter of its needs and imports the rest. Now, oil tankers trying to reach Tripoli have been turned away by the warships of Nato, which does not want to allow the fuel to power Gaddafi’s army. So petrol must come by road from Tunis, which the government says is badly affecting essential services. The average wait in a petrol station queue is four to seven days. On the black market, petrol sells at more than 40 times the official price. Even those who can afford to cannot go very far outside Tripoli because of the conflict raging on various fronts. “People are fed up with this situation,” said a young man who works near the medina quarter, adding that the fault lay with Gaddafi. Though he glanced around nervously as he spoke to see if anyone was listening, he carried on. “We used to be so afraid. But every day our brothers in Misrata, Benghazi and Zawiya are dying, so we must speak out. We need this to end.” One of the few foreign observers left in Tripoli said that at the start of the uprising there was still a fair amount of sympathy for Gaddafi – more than his opponents would like to admit. And most of these supporters are armed because the regime handed out AK-47s to civilians when the rebellion began. But the observer said that as the conflict has gone on, a lot of Gaddafi’s support has ebbed away. “People are getting tired and saying ‘What for? We need our fuel, our food. We need our regular life. If he [Gaddafi] has to go to get that back, then so be it.’ ” He added, however, that Tripoli does not seem about to rise up against Gaddafi, and there is a sense here that people have decided to wait for the rebels to break through from the east before they join the revolt. In the eastern suburbs of Tripoli, dissidents have been attacking police checkpoints at night and spraying anti-Gaddafi graffiti on walls. But the slogans are quickly painted over, and the police presence in these neighbourhoods remains heavy. “Look there – plainclothes police,” said a taxi driver, driving through an area called Fashloum. “And there, and there. The only people who like Gaddafi are the police and people working with him.” Ordinary people who support Gaddafi can be found. Unprompted, another taxi driver pulled a postcard featuring the Libyan leader from his glove compartment and held it against his heart. Around Green Square, in the city centre, a father bought small pictures of Gaddafi for his two young sons to hang around their necks. Nearby a 30-year-old man, Reda Ali Tarhoni, described the leader as his “number one father. We had safety, food, school. He gave us money.” Yet even among some senior officials close to Gaddafi there is sense of gloom, regret, and even inevitability, which is compounded by the day as the last of the regime’s “friends” – leaders from the continent who have enjoyed its largesse – abandon Libya. “All that money we spent on Africa?” said one official. “We really should have spent it at home.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Nato Middle East Africa Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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